


Meanwhile in the RED Base...

by AidanFlynn



Series: Our RED Team [2]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Background - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, femfortress, ourredteam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-02-05 17:38:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1826602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidanFlynn/pseuds/AidanFlynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bunch of little oneshots that happen between 'Meet Our RED Team' and 'BLU Spy in the Base'. Just some filler and some backstory/relationship building.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Helmet Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scout is hungry, Medic gets coffee for Engie and finds something out. 
> 
> This chapter is fluff.

“Aw, come on doc. Pyro’s workin’ on his flamethrower and I don’t wanna bother him, but I’m starving!”

“You are not starving, dummkopf.” Medic looked up from her book, sighing with annoyance, “You are just hungry. Zhere is a difference.”

“Fine. Whatever. Can I have some food……please.” Scout grumbled reluctantly.

Medic rolled her eyes, but stood, stretching her arms behind her and yawning. She looked at her watch.

“Oh, it is later zen I thought.” She walked calmly to the door of her room at Scout pranced around her excitedly.

Walking down the hall Medic saw that Engineer’s light was on. After listening silently for a few moments she knocked on the door as Scout began to whine impatiently.

“Yup. Come on in.” Engineer was sitting at her desk, a few books scattered around her as Medic opened the door.

“I’m making some food for ze Häschen.” Medic said, nodding behind her at Scout, “Can I get you anysing?”

“Some coffee would be nice, thank ya kindly.” Engineer yawned, rubbing her eyes.

“Alright zen, I’ll be back in a bit.” She smiled.

After cooking up some macaroni and cheese for Scout, Medic made Engineer her coffee. Before she left she threatened Scout to clean up everything after she was done eating, or she would make sure her next meal had something sinister in it. She made her way down the hallway to the Engineering Bay, and stopped momentarily at the door as she heard some noises that were…suspect. She squinted suspiciously at the door before knocking loudly. There was a pause and then Engineer cursing loudly as some rustling went on.

“I have your coffee.” Medic loudly announced, leaning against the doorjamb.

“I know! I know! Gimme a minute!” she heard Engineer call back.

Medic rolled her eyes as she stirred the coffee with a spoon, waiting patiently. After a minute Engineer opened the door partially and stuck her head out.

“Thanks.” She smiled sheepishly, her cheeks bright pink.

Medic handed her the cup of coffee and immediately burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Engineer asked warily, turning pinker by the minute.

In response, Medic grabbed the helmet off of Engineer’s head and held it up. It was Soldier’s helmet, not Engineer’s, and now Engineer’s face turned even redder, the tint spreading across her face as she stared at it. Medic put the helmet back on her head and tapped drumroll on the top of it as Engineer stood there, flustered.

“Having a little helmet party, are ve?” Medic grinned wide. Well that explained the noises at any rate.

Engineer snorted, “Oh yer one ta talk. You an Sniper’r always flirtin up a storm on and off the field. What the hell's keepin you two, huh?”

Medic opened her mouth to reply, but Engineer closed the door, the click of the lock sounding the end of that conversation.

  


	2. How RED Spy met the BLU Sniper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spy is annoyed and decides to take a stroll.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was Beta'd by cloudbruja06
> 
> Just a warning that there are vague allusions to rape in this chapter.

He had to get out of the base. He had to do something, anything, to get away from that little pest’s yammering. Never had he met someone who was so consistently loquacious, certainly not so stridently so. Even with the medication that their Medic had given him, he was developing a headache from the constant barrage of words. It seemed that she had developed an annoying habit of targeting him in particular.

At the moment, he was sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs in the common, a cup of tea in one hand and a newspaper in the other, vehemently staring at the black and white print as he tried to focus on something other than the incessant chatter coming from Scout, who was standing over him with a self-satisfied grin. He wasn’t even listening to what she was saying, and he abruptly turned to her.

“You do know zat zere is a baseball game on at ze moment?” he gestured to the television.

Scout looked surprised for a moment, pausing mid-sentence, then dashed over to the other side of the room, joining Heavy and Pyro on the couch. Spy sighed, readjusting the newspaper in his hand. He could still hear her from here, her attention now directed at the television and the two on the couch. Rubbing his forehead, he resolved that it would indeed be worth the risk to wander out of the base, if only to get some silence for a while. He folded the newspaper, setting it on the table and placing his cup in the sink, then slipped out of the room.

It was deliciously cool outside now that it was dark, the sand crunching softly under his feet as he slipped his mask on. He walked along the very edge of the fort, staring through the fence at the desert beyond, the sand stretching off into the distance as the full moon above illuminated the sparse patches of cacti and dry brush dotting the landscape. Sighing contentedly at the silence, he stood still for a moment, closing his eyes. In the distance, he heard what sounded like a howling coyote. Wait a moment…something about that wasn’t right. He had heard coyotes before, but this one sounded oddly…what was it?….well, not as animal-like as he would have liked. His eyes opened in surprise. That was a howl of pain, and of a human. It sent a shiver down his spine to hear a sound like that outside of battle. What could possibly be happening this late at night outside of the battle hours?

He noticed that he had wandered into the BLU side of the fort, and he quickly cloaked. Slowly, he made his way towards where the noise had come from. As he passed by one of the buildings, he heard a low groan followed by choking and loud cursing which quickly became garbled noise. Stopping for a moment, he listened, his sensitive ears trying to ascertain the location of the disturbance. He shivered as a muffled scream was followed by hissing words. What was going on in there? He circled the building, finding the door and entering. There was nothing but a large empty room and a set of stairs. The noises were coming from above him, a kind of whimpering whine as the indistinguishable words continued, punctuated by little shrieks. The second floor was a long hallway of rooms; all the doors he passed were closed.

As he passed one of the closed doors, he heard the sound of a groan of pain, and stopped dead, looking around for the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from behind the door, and he drew closer to it, pressing his ear to the wood and listening. There was mumbling and a little whimper, the sound of a piece of furniture being dragged across the room, a muffled growl and soft chuckling, a few angry grunts, a few whispered words, and then footsteps coming towards the door. Spy jumped back, pressing himself against the wall. The door opened, and the BLU Spy walked out, buttoning the front of his pants, a light splattering of blood down his front and a wicked grin on his face as he called back softly into the room.

“Next time, try not to get so much blood on my suit, mon ami.” he laughed as he walked away.

Spy froze. Had the BLU Spy gotten a hold of one of his teammates? How? And why would he be doing something like this, especially outside of the designated battle time? His hands a bit shaky, he carefully stepped into the room. It was dim; the only light was the moonlight streaming in through the open window, he could see the shape of someone in a chair, their arms tied behind them as their head hung forward, their red hair dark with blood. Medic had red hair, didn’t she? Spy shut the door behind him and cautiously approached the person. Upon closer inspection, he could see that it was a man. Who on earth was this? Uncloaking he lightly touched the persons shoulder, prompting him to jerk his head up to look Spy in the face. This was not one of his teammates. Why had the BLU Spy been torturing his own Sniper?

The Sniper’s bright green eyes were wide with terror as he realized that he was now faced with not only a Spy, but an enemy Spy. His face was stained with blood and trails of tears ran down his cheeks, a deep bite mark on his shoulder, his bare chest and arms covered in cuts and bruises, blood dripping off of him and pooling onto the floor. Spy just stared for a few moments in confusion and disgust as he tried to comprehend the situation. When he had finally collected himself he flipped out his butterfly knife, causing the Sniper to flinch and close his eyes, preparing for a second assault. He instead felt the ropes binding him to the chair being cut. Peeking his eyes open, he looked at Spy questioningly.

“Do not worry, tireur isolé. I am not going to ‘urt you,” Spy whispered soothingly into his ear as he finished cutting the ropes around his hands.

The BLU Sniper did not believe that. If his own teammate was so brutal, then the enemy Spy was bound to be even more so. What kind of twisted game was this? The cologne he was wearing was just as soothing as his voice and he felt oddly relaxed. No. No! This was all some sort of trap! It had to be, It just….had to be. The RED Spy cut the gag off him and the Sniper looked up into his face. His eyes were peculiarly stunning, the color of dark amber speckled with gold flecks. He found himself staring for a few more moments, as the Spy did the same. The Spy slowly backed away, never breaking eye contact, an odd look on his face. As the Sniper’s attention was brought back to what had just happened, he felt his stomach churn, the horrid salty taste in his mouth reminding him of what the BLU Spy had just done to him. He covered his mouth and ran to the wall, leaning against it for support as his stomach heaved, the taste of acid replacing that offensive reminder of the transgression. The blood running down his arm was making his hand slip down the wall as he retched, the other clenched over his abdomen. When he had nothing left in his stomach, he unsteadily backed into the corner, sliding down onto the floor and holding his head in his hands, his whole body shaking.

“Why did ‘e do zis to you?”

The Sniper had almost forgotten that the Spy was still here. He was standing above him now, looking down at him worriedly. He looked back down at the floor, breathing in heavily before answering.

“Ah…’e ah…’e found  out somethin’ about me tha’ I didn’t wan’ ‘im to. Not that he really needed a reason, that bloody sick bastard.”  

His thick Irish accent surprised the Frenchman. He had assumed that he was Austrailian, like their Sniper. Most of the team’s BLU counterparts seemed to be from the same country or area.

“And what was zat?”

The Sniper stared for a bit at the Spy’s shoes, as if trying to decide whether or not to share this information.

“Well, among other things…ooooooh bloody hell.” He held his hands to his temples, dizzy.

“You ‘ave lost a lot of blood,” Spy said, frowning. “You should get back to your Medic.”

The Sniper shook his head, “No. He’d just cut me up even more ‘fore he’d heal me.”

“What kind of a Medic iz zat? ‘e would do such a zing to his own ally?”

“The rest of them are just as bad as Spy.” He muttered gloomily, trailing off into what Spy assumed was Irish Gaelic. 

This whole situation was making the RED Spy agitated and angry. He looked down at the Sniper, who seemed to be slowly losing consciousness as his head sank to his chest. The BLU Spy must have knocked him out before bringing him here; there was a deep gash in his head where he had been struck. The Sniper began to sob gently, the tears running down his cheeks as his whole body shook. Spy knelt down in front of him, gently lifting the Sniper’s chin to look him in the eye.

“Everyzing will be all right, mon ami.” He lightly caressed the side of his face, gently wiping away the tears with his thumb.

Spy wrapped his arms around the Sniper’s shoulders, holding him until he stopped shaking. Murmuring soothing words into his ear as the man regained control of himself.

“Why are ya bein’ so kind ta me?” the Sniper asked, “I thought the REDs would be even worse than the BLU’s seein’ as how we’re supposed ta be enemies.”

“Sometimes zese sings do not make sense. I do not even know what we are fighting about. It iz only a job to me and I do not particularly care about ze reason for ze war. What I do care about is when zese people do horrid sings like what ze Spy did to you. Sings like zis are intolerable.”

“Would you mind doin’ somethin’ else for me then?”

“What iz it?”

“Kill me.”

Spy sighed. He knew that it was the best thing to do, since he couldn’t go to the BLU Medic, and bleeding to death would only be long and painful. If he killed him, the Sniper would be sent back to Respawn, in complete health. It felt so wrong to do, especially outside of battle, but he knew that it was the best remedy.

“You must promise me somesing zen, mon ami.”

“What?”

“Zat I can come speak wiz you again sometime soon.”

“That…that would be nice. I’d like that.” His words slipped out weakly, as he tried not to lose consciousness.

Spy flipped out his balisong, softly caressing the Snipers cheek as he pressed the knife against his neck.

“Bonne nuit, mon ami.” 


	3. Stargazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Medic and Sniper have some alone time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole thing just kind of happened one night so here it is. Medic and Sniper are idiots and just need to get it together already. The whole team thinks so.

Medic and Engineer were sitting in the Medical Bay after that day’s battle, just discussing a few technical upgrades, and then just having some small talk.

“Anythin’ interestin’ happen today during the battle?” Engineer asked.

“Vell, Sniper fell off one of ze buildings, and I happened to be running by, so I healed him. I was berating him about being more careful on the roof tops, and do you know vhat he said to me?”

“What?”

“He said, ‘I can fly as long as I’ve got my guardian angel watching out for me!’ And zen he just winked at me and ran away. It’s ze stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Ya do realize he was talkin’ about you, right?” Engineer tilted her head.

“Vhat do you mean?”

“He called ya his guardian angel. He was flirtin’ with ya, as per usual.” Engineer nudged her, grinning.

“Vhat’s zat supposed to mean?” Medic frowned.

“Ya know, everybody is just waitin’ fer you two to get together already.”

Medic paused, staring at the wall for a moment.

“I don’t vant to.”

“Why not? Yer clearly inta the guy, and hell, it’s not like we’ve got anythin’ better ta do out here.”

“It’s….complicated.” Medic shook her head. “I’ve got….I don’t….” she struggled to find the words. “Emotions are not good for me…er I mean….I am not good at zem. I felt like zhat for only one person before, and zhey ended up dead. I haven’t felt zhat vay since.”

Engineer was silent for a few moments.

“Well, if it’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s never to dwell on the past, it just holds you back from the future. Let it go and stop looking backwards, you won’t notice any of the amazing things in front of you, and you’re liable to walk yerself straight off a cliff.”

“Easy to say.” Medic grumbled.

“Well, anyway,” Engineer broke off, changing the subject, “What d’ya wanna make fer dinner tonight?”

-

Later that night, at dinner, Medic poked contemplatively at the green beans on her plate, disinterestedly watching Scout scarfing down food across from her. Heavy laughed loudly at something Demo had said, gently shoving her as he laughed. She smiled halfheartedly before stabbing one of the green beans on her fork and eating slowly, hardly registering anything that was going on around her. Mulling about what Engineer had said earlier she focused in on Sniper, who was frowning at Scout as she tried to both talk to him, and stuff food in her mouth. Scout made an exaggerated gesture of imitation then choked on her food, Sniper smirked, the corners of his eyes crinkling up as he laughed. Medic reflexively smiled and suddenly felt someone staring at her. She turned to see Engineer nodding at her with a smug grin on her face. Medic rolled her eyes and went back to her green beans.

Sniper looked up from Scout to see Medic aggressively stabbing at her green beans. She took the whole forkful and shoved it into her mouth, chewing angrily. Sniper raised an eyebrow as she looked up, met his gaze, and quickly stared back down at her plate. He wondered if they were ever going to pan out. At times she was as warm and flirtatious as you could get, and then suddenly she was oblivious and stand-offish. Well, she was certainly not the sanest person he’d ever met. He was pretty sure that she had a pretty dark past what with the way the respawn affected her and of course there was her brother... Then again all of them had something, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. He stopped that train of thought before it went any further. Not tonight.

After dinner Medic was in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes in the sink as Scout tried to help. ‘Tried’ being the operative word, as she was causing more damage to the dishes than anything else, dumping them into the sink. Medic looked like she wanted to shove a sponge down Scout’s throat more than anything, but was restraining herself because the girl was actually trying to help for once. Sniper watched this for a few moments, before deciding to intervene on Medic’s behalf.

“Oi, Scout, there’s some ball game on the telly, I’ll take over here.” He tapped Scout on the shoulder, interrupting her stream of chatter.

“Hey! Thanks Snipes!”

“Danke, Scout.” Medic smiled forcedly as Scout sent one more dish clattering into the sink before running away.

“She means well.” Sniper commented, taking Scout’s spot at the sink.

Medic took a deep breath and sighed heavily, angrily scrubbing at a particularly dirty plate.

Sniper moved closer to her as he put the rest of the dishes gently in the water, then switched to Medic’s other side, starting to dry off the plates with a towel. They did the dishes in silence for a few moments, the only sound the clink of plates and the scrubbing of the brush. Sniper decided to give a little push.

“Nice job taking care of that no-good BLU Scout today.” Sniper commented as she handed him a plate.

Medic frowned, “He’s alvays after Scout, I vould hate for him to catch her. She may be a pest, but she is also very innocent about certain things…”

Sniper winced, “The BLUs sure don’t have any reservations.”

There was another moment of silence while Medic frowned at the plates as she scrubbed them. Alright, he thought, let’s try again.

“We’ve got tomorrow off, no battle.” Sniper commented, putting another plate away.

“Ja.” Medic sighed, her shoulders relaxing a bit.

Sniper paused before continuing, “The stars are different up here.”

“Vhat do you mean?”

Oh god that was stupid, he thought to himself, what kind of lead was that. “Well, there’s constellations missing, and the ones that are there, are in the wrong spots. There’s a whole bunch of new constellations too. There’s a real north star up here, which is useful.”

“Oh,” Medic said, scrubbing off the last plate, “I alvays lived in ze city. Zere vere very few stars in ze sky unless zere vas an air raid and all ze lights vere out. And zen you vere in a basement anyvay, so…”

“Ya mean ya haven’t seen the ones here?” Sniper raised an eyebrow as he put the last plate away.

“Nein, I…I don’t really go out at night here.” Medic laughed nervously, drying her hands off.

“Alright then. Come on, I’ve got somethin’ ta show ya.” Sniper grabbed Medic by the hand and pulled her along with him as she protested jokingly.

They took the elevator down to the garage, and got into Sniper’s camper van. As he poked at Engineer’s computer she had installed on everyone’s vehicle, the ramp that opened up to the road outside the compound lowered slowly. The cab of the van smelled faintly of leather, campfire smoke, and the scent that was altogether Sniper. Medic leaned back, inhaling deeply and staring for a moment at the little bobblehead on the dashboard before looking at Sniper, who was smirking at her. She barely restrained a smile and turned away, snorting and shaking her head. They drove up out of the garage and bumped out onto the dirt road, the van growling away.

“Vhere are ve going?” Medic almost had to yell over the engine and the sound of the road.

“You’ll see!” Sniper grinned at her.

Medic rolled her eyes and started playing with the radio. She managed to find one station that was coming in. Big band music filled the cab and she stared out at the desert, the setting sun turning it bright shades of orange, red, pink, and purple. It really was beautiful. After what felt like a long time later, the sun had set fully, only a faint glow remained on the horizon, and Sniper kept driving into the darkness, the headlamps bouncing around as the car jostled over the rocky pitted road.

“Vhere are ve going?” Medic asked again, loudly over all the noise.

“We’re almost there! I promise!” Sniper smiled back at her.

Sniper suddenly turned off the main road, off into the desert. This made Medic exponentially more worried. They were going off into the middle of the desert, in the dark, where who knows what was out here. She looked over at Sniper, who seemed as cheery as ever, smiling at the road and humming along with the radio. If this were any other situation she would probably think she was about to be murdered and left to rot out here where no one could find her body. She leaned over and put a hand on Sniper’s arm, frowning up at him worriedly. He just smiled at her in the darkness; the only light now the headlamps of the car. Suddenly, Sniper slammed on the brakes, the van skidding to a stop as a large cactus appeared directly in front of them. Medic was white-knuckled, fingers grasping the seat as she stared at the giant green-gray thing in front of them, spines as long as her fingers.

“Alright. We’re here.” Sniper said, turning off the car lights, throwing them into pitch blackness.

Medic squeaked, eyes darting around quickly, trying to find anything. She instinctively put her hands up, feeling around; coming in contact with Sniper, she grabbed his arm.

“Vhat are ve doing out here?” she hissed.

“Waiting for your eyes to adjust to the dark.” Sniper said calmly, grabbing onto her arms.

She stopped flailing around and just sat there for a moment. As Sniper’s eyes adjusted he could see her kneeling on the seat and facing him, eyes darting about as she gripped his arm tightly. Clearly she had not been in the outdoors very often; this whole experience seemed to be freaking her out. He hoped she liked what he was about to show her.

“Alright, watch out for scorpions.” He stated, opening the door and pulling her towards him.

“Vhat!?” she hissed, squinting at him and refusing to move.

“It’s fine, come on. We’re big scary humans.” Sniper laughed.

“Nein! Nein!” Medic balked, backing into the cab.

“I promise. It’s worth it.” Sniper held out his hand as Medic stared at him.

Hesitantly she took his hand, climbing out of the cab and staring at the ground.

“Whoops, look out.” Sniper pointed at her feet and she shrieked and jumped back as he laughed.

“Ugh! Ich hasse dich!” she shoved him angrily, and then crossed her arms over her chest protectively, frowning down at the ground.

“I’m sorry Medic, I couldn’t help myself.” Sniper chuckled, “You’re just always so unphased in battle, but you’re scared of all this.” He gestured to the desert.

“I am not scared.” Medic insisted. “I am…cautious. It’s dangerous.”

“And battles aren’t?”

“Zat’s different” she grumbled.

“Come on, luv.” He reached out a hand for her again and she hesitated, looking from him to his hand before finally taking it and letting him lead her forward.

“I svear if we even _see_ a scorpion I am going to kill you.” She grumbled.

“Considering that coming from you that’s an actual threat, let’s hope we don’t” he chuckled.

They were going up a slight incline, Medic kept her eyes on the ground, convinced that there were scorpions just waiting to swarm them. When Sniper stopped she looked up and saw that they were standing on the top of a cliff, overlooking a canyon whose walls were all layered stripes, the canyon wound its way away from them, off into the desert that lay beyond. Medic’s eyes followed the canyon to the horizon, and then followed the trail of bright fuzzy stars up into the sky, her mouth opened in amazement. They entire sky was bright with stars.

“Oh mein Gott…” she gasped, staring up at the sky.

Sniper smiled, watching her. She stared up at the light spattered sky, eyes wide, her mouth hanging open as she looked up at the endless spray of stars. She hadn’t even known there were that many! Never mind about constellations, there were so many stars that she questioned the fact that anyone could connect them together. Most of the stars were bright white, but a few of them were slightly tinted with red or blue or yellow.

“…Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe…” she mumbled under her breath, suddenly hit by the grandeur of such a statement. She had never fully understood it before now, with all those stars above her.

Sniper put a hand on her shoulder, “Want to sit down?”

“Nein, nein, zhere’s scorpions und who knows vhat else down zhere.”

“Well, we could go sit on top of the van if you want.”

“…Ja.”

They went back to the van, Medic watching the stars the whole time as if afraid they would disappear, scorpions forgotten for the moment. They climbed up on top of the van, Sniper grabbing a few blankets before he went up. He spread one of the blankets out on top of the van and they sat down, staring at the sky. Medic’s neck started to hurt from craning up the whole time, and she lay back, staring at the stars, and glancing at Sniper silhouetted against them. After a bit, Sniper got tired too and lay back.

“Do you know vhat zhey are?” she asked.

“Balls of fire?”

“Nein, I mean their names.”  She chuckled.

“Well, that one right there, is part of the summer triangle.” He pointed where there were three bright stars, high in the sky, “There’s three stars, that one is Altair, and it’s part of Aquila, Zeus’ pet eagle. That one is Vega, and it’s part of Lyra, which is the lyre harp of Orpheus.”

“Who is Orpheus?”

“Orpheus? Oh he was this Ancient Greek musician. His music was so amazing that the gods loved him, so when he was killed by a bunch of nutters, his harp got put up in the sky. Actually now that I think about it I think that Aquila the Eagle put the harp there…I don’t remember…Anyway, the last one’s name is Dneb. D. N. E. B.” he spelled out, “And it’s part of the constellation, Cygnus. Cygnus is a swan, see there’s its wings, spread out across the Milky Way, and there’s its neck and tail.” He pointed all these out.

“Who named it zhat?”

“The Greeks I think, they really liked naming constellations.” He thought for a bit. “Cygnus used to be human.”

“You mean ze constellation vas of a human, instead of a svan?”

“Ze svan…” He imitated her mockingly and she elbowed him in the ribcage.“Oi! Easy there! The swan was human. So, Cygnus was a boy who lived in Ancient Greece, I suppose, since the Ancient Greeks made the story. Cygnus had a friend named Phaethon. In those days they believed in gods and all that, and they believed that Helios, the god of the sun, drove his flaming chariot, pulled by flaming horses, across the sky every day, and that was the sun. Anyway, so Phaethon found out that his dad was Helios, the god of the sun. So, of course, he tells all of his friends that he is the son of a god. His friends think he’s a wanker and tell him to sod off. This makes him pretty well pissed, and so he goes off to find dear old dad.

 He travels across mountains, and deserts, and rainforests, and finally comes to the scorching desert at the end of the world, where Helios has his huge golden palace. Phaethon knocks loudly at the door until someone answers. Helios opens the door, and finds this mortal kid standing at his doorstep. He is right well confused by this, but before he could say anything Phaethon introduces himself as his son. Helios doesn’t believe him, until Phaethon tells him about his mum. After that Helios is overjoyed at finding out that he has a son, and invites him in, telling everyone in the palace that they’re going to have a huge feast to celebrate his son. They dance, they eat, they drink, and they drink maybe a bit too much, as you will. So then Phaethon tells his dad about how his friends don’t believe that he is the son of a god. Helios promises his son that he will grant him anything he wishes to help him convince his friends.

The next morning Phaethon goes up to Helios and says ‘Dad, I’ve thought about it, and I want to drive the chariot of the sun across the sky today, so that my friends can see me.’ Helios is upset and tells him that he can’t, because the horses are too strong and he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Phaethon doesn’t listen (being a teenager and all that) and won’t change his mind. Now Helios really regrets promising him whatever he wanted, because he can’t go back on his promise (since he’s a god.) Reluctantly, Helios harnesses the horses up to the chariot, and Phaethon hops on board. He whips the reigns and the horses go shooting up into the sky, dragging the flaming chariot along with them. At first, everything is going really well, the horses are following the arc up into the sky, and dawn is rising. But, the horses soon realize that their master is not at the reigns, and they suddenly buck, and pull the reigns from Phaethon’s hands. They dive down down towards the earth leaving a scorching desert (that’s now the Sahara) and then up up up into the sky and scorching a mark across the sky (that’s the Milky Way)” he pointed up to the bright swath of stars above their heads.

“Zat’s silly.” Medic mumbled.

“Well then I won’t tell you the rest.”

“Nein, nein, I like it, keep going.”  She moved closer to him under the blanket, the night was getting cold.

Sniper smiled, “So the chariot is going out of control, up and down, destroying forests, burning things, all that. Finally Zeus, who’s the big guy up on Olympus, you know, where all the gods live on this mountain, and he sees the mess that Phaethon is making. So to prevent the chariot from destroying the earth, he throws down a lightning bolt, and strikes down Phaethon, whose lifeless corpse falls, burning, down to earth, and lands in a river. The horses, feeling the weight gone, return back to their stable back at the palace of Helios. Helios is very upset. He just found out he had a son, and not a day later, his son was dead. He wasn’t the only one who was upset though. Cygnus, Phaethon’s best friend, saw what happened and watched his friend fall into the river. He immediately ran to the river, jumped in, and dived down, trying to reach his friend. He swam back and forth across the river, diving down and coming back up, and as Helios watched him, he was so moved by his dedication that he decided to help him. The boy swimming across the river and diving made him look like a swan, so Helios turned the boy into a swan, and when he died, he threw him up into the sky and he became the constellation, Cygnus, which would forever remind humans of the importance of true friendship.”

Medic was silent for a moment as she stared up at the constellation, “But how is zhat helping him? Vhy did he turn him into a svan?”

“I dunno luv, I’m not Greek.”

“How do you know all zhis?”

“I’ve always really liked astronomy.” He said simply.

When he was younger, he didn’t really fit in with the kids at school. He spent most of his time alone, and since his parent’s house was out in the middle of nowhere he spent a lot of time staring up at the night sky. He could see the Milky Way bright white smeared across the sky, all of the spattered stars and planets, the occasional meteorite, mostly unobscured by the light pollution that existed near the cities. He was curious about it all and soon was carrying home bags and stacks of books from the library, all about astronomy and mythology. The Greek mythologies were his favourite. By the time he was in middle school he could point out all of the constellations and knew the classic myths behind them.  When he was older and graduated out of high school, his parents gave him the camper van as a graduation present. He was so excited that he drove off into the desert without a second thought, to go look at the stars. The stars far out in the desert, without any lights to distract from them, were amazingly beautiful. He spent several days out there in the desert, just staring up at the stars. Eventually he ran out of food, and then he turned to go back home, only to get completely lost. He eventually came across the Aboriginal town where his aunt and uncle lived. Half-starved and dehydrated, he ended up staying with them for a while as he recovered. After he felt better he stayed, learning more about the outback, how to survive, how to track, and their mythology. He guessed that, in the long run, his love of the stars had led him to his current profession and situation.

Medic had snuggled in close next to him and was shivering slightly. It had gotten cold. Deserts were like that, boiling hot during the day, but at night, it could get down to freezing.

“You wanna head back to the base?”

“Ja…” she chattered, sounding reluctant.

He looked over and saw that she was staring up at the sky, a small smile on the corners of her lips, eyes wide with childlike wonder. Medic looked so innocent that he grinned. She felt Sniper staring at her and turned to look at him, and then laughed self-consciously at how close they were.

“We can always come out again. The stars aren’t going anywhere.” He said softly.

“Ja….I vould…I vould like zat.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you like Medic and Sniper and wanna see them get together more then read BLU Spy in the Base (which is part of the Our RED Team series)

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to keep up with the RED team's shenanigans and bother them with questions or whatever else, you should visit their blog here: http://ourredteam.tumblr.com/


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